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looking for suspension parts swap information, "what will fit"

I have a 96 legacy brighton wagon and I'd like to get it to handle better. What years of subarus can I get parts from like struts, sway bars, etc? I know the outback bars are bigger but what year did the chassis change? From what I understand, my brighton wagon is a BK chassis.

I remember reading about it here but can't find it now. It's been a long time since I've been on the board so there's more posts since then.

how many miles/years on the struts springs? new stuff might be a large improvement?

GT suspension stuff if it's any different, they handle nicely.

and beefier sway bars. a friend had a 96 brighton and it handled awful compared to every other 95-99 subaru i've driven, not sure why but i bet you're on it with struts/sway bars.

95-99 Legacy/Outback suspension stuffs interchange.

that's assuming it's compatible - i thought some brightons didn't have a rear sway bar and you may also need the suspension control arms (forget what they're called) that has the brackets for the sway bars too...memory is vague...someone will know.

if you list that brighton your going to have to grab alot more parts than just the struts at your local junk yard.

people do just the struts but it is extremely hard to get the bolts to line up, in my case getting all the right parts was easier than forcing the struts to fit.

if you want to go from base brighton or L to outback this is what you need!

struts and springs

lift blocks with longer bolts

rear diff guard spacers

rear control arm brackets

rear sway bar with mounts

front control arm bushings or as SOA puts it "Transverse link"

drive shaft with appropriate carrier bearing

trans cross member

steering wheel column extension link and proper steering wheel

^ all of these parts are different with different part numbers check opposedforces.com they are ment to work together, after doing mine WOW! with some 17's it feels like a while new car and I'm getting 30.1 MPG with a ram air mod and grandma driving.

I'm using my L steering wheel column and an outback link extension and its way to tight I have to have my tllt wheel as high as it will go and have some washers as spacers to keep the ujoints from hitting the brake master cylinder. I have read that you can use the stock base,l,brighton steering link but only a small portion of the splines grab so in rally conditions they can come loose or shear, NO STEERING, NO THANK YOU!

and then thats only for lifting if you want to have it all you gotta swap engine and trans to0 2.5l with an outback/ forester trans for the proper gearing and don't forget about your differentials the trans will come with the front bolted on but you have to drop and swap the rear diff to match the front.

BTW if you get all the parts this can be done in about a day it took me several because I had to keep going back to various yards for different parts. I also lifted my rear months before I did my front for larger load capacity, I only installed rear struts, sway bar, lift blocks.

Start with sway bars. Best and cheapest upgrade you can make by far.
Get some from an outback wagon. The rear bar will make the biggest difference, going from a 13 to a either 17 or 19mm (IIRC) bar. The wagon needs more anti sway in the back because of the higher COG.

If your rear sags get some new springs and new KYB struts.
You can use early WRX struts and springs (up to 07 I think) all around to get a bit lower ride height and stiffer feel. Use saggy butt spacers if the rear is too low to help level it out.

But like I said, best upgrade by far is gonna be ditching that tiny rear sway bar.

Start with sway bars. Best and cheapest upgrade you can make by far.
Get some from an outback wagon. The rear bar will make the biggest difference, going from a 13 to a either 17 or 19mm (IIRC) bar. The wagon needs more anti sway in the back because of the higher COG.

If your rear sags get some new springs and new KYB struts.
You can use early WRX struts and springs (up to 07 I think) all around to get a bit lower ride height and stiffer feel. Use saggy butt spacers if the rear is too low to help level it out.

But like I said, best upgrade by far is gonna be ditching that tiny rear sway bar.

^THIS

I've driven a 2003 base impreza wagon with over 200,000kms on it that the owner put a wrx rear sway bar into. Total night and day difference in cornering attitude. The exact same car with all the same worn out everything now feels eager to turn-in and stays much flatter in the corners. It's a real sweetheart now.

Make sure you take care of completely worn out struts and bushings too though. Also I've heard good things about doing the steering rack bushings on these cars with harder poly ones but haven't tried it myself yet.

if you list that brighton your going to have to grab alot more parts than just the struts at your local junk yard.

people do just the struts but it is extremely hard to get the bolts to line up, in my case getting all the right parts was easier than forcing the struts to fit.

if you want to go from base brighton or L to outback this is what you need!

struts and springs

lift blocks with longer bolts

rear diff guard spacers

rear control arm brackets

rear sway bar with mounts

front control arm bushings or as SOA puts it "Transverse link"

drive shaft with appropriate carrier bearing

trans cross member

steering wheel column extension link and proper steering wheel

You don't need all this stuff. It is different, and if you use the lift blocks, then you need the A-arm bushings, transcrossmember spacers, steering link, etc....

But in reality, the best way to strut lift a regular Legacy is to use the Outback struts, and the trailing arm bracket from the Outback. That's it. No more required. Outback rear swaybar could be added too for handling, but not needed for lift and actually if you want more off-road ability ditch the swaybars entirely.

But that isn't really what he was asking about. He asked about handling....and that could be addressed without any lifting, in fact keeping it lower will yeild better handling. Just add the outback swaybars